My Urvaan

Snapshot of the last 365 days- the good, the bad and the ugly Lived in: Kentucky, US Random shit of the year- Losing  job Heartbreak of the year- Losing  Penny Sucky moments- Not doing well in an exam that was important and coming to terms with my own physiological limitations Happy moments- Brother in law's engagement and birth of my niece  Good deeds of this year- The annual Nanhi Kali sponsorship, the yearly donation to cancer charity and funding Jill Andrews's project on Kickstarter New skills learned- Baking cake from scratch thanks to my blogger friend SA and also learned to make some really kick ass Mojitos. I need to mention that my mum discovered the magic of smartphones and has suddenly become very tech savvy Materialistic possessions of this year- my Tag Heuer and our BMW X1 New Music/Band discovery-  Jill Andrews, Leonie Casanova and Imagine Dragons.  Good Books- I read couple of books this year but nothing special really( Manuscript found in Accra, In

Tell me about a time when you were hurt. Talk to me about the day when you thought you couldn't survive. Tell me about the time when you wanted to disappear . Did you try to stop the ride? Stranger, have you ever cried a river?  Tell me about your first crush. Did you ever call and forgot to speak and then kept calling till you muster the courage to say hello? Maybe you never said hello. How long was your longest crush? Tell me about your first love and all the loves thereafter. Did you ever tell someone you love, that you love them? Do you really believe that happiness is all that matters, even if it means you not being part of it? Did you ever write love songs?  Did you stop asking questions because the answer would just disappoint ? Did you build walls around your heart and were terrified of letting someone in? Did you think you could never love again? Have you ever gone to bed wishing that you never wake up? Have you screamed without a sound? Did you fight for something th

Yes, so it happened. I turned 30. Not sure what was I expecting but it felt like just another day, another year. The general feeling of being super excited on birthday has worn off. It was a usual day, I got up late, spoke to my  family and couple of friends who remembered my birthday. Made my favorite- dahi ka aloo for lunch. Later in the evening we went for dinner and somewhere in between I sat alone with a glass of wine ( AB was off to school). Yes, there was a cake too, a slice of it 

My India trip was  also filled with heartache. Couple of days before returning to US (on 10th May 2013), we lost our beloved Penny . She died of natural causes and is buried near the Chenab river at Jammu, foothills of Ma Vaishodevi. Her loss has hit all of us terribly, specially my parents. People who ever lost a pet, like a loved one can understand the heartache it is. She was 13 years old. All four of us were present and Rishi did her burial. She was so happy and active when I first saw her back in April, excited jumping and running around. Waking me in middle of night, asking the food I bought her from US and just being her naughty self. I miss her terribly. I came across a text from Plato where he said, "We consider death as evil when in reality we don't know. It may be the greatest blessing" .  I like to think it that way. She was blessed and is in a far happier place now. May her soul rest in peace. Here is the last picture of her which I took in

Lived in: Kentucky, US 2012 was a difficult year.Honestly, I have been waiting for couple of months for it to end. The year was marred with  loss , suffering and setbacks. It did had some occasional highs like both AB and I were promoted at work , travel s to new places ( New Orleans, Upper Michigan and Philadelphia) and some new experiences like attending my first concert ( Lady A), watching Zakir Hussain perform and learning Spanish . For Christmas holidays, my cousins, uncle and aunt visited us from Canada and it was so nice to spend sometime with them. I and my sisters baked brownies and chocolate covered strawberries. After they left, we drove up north to Philadelphia to meet AB's friends.We celebrated New Year's Eve with them. We did dress up but ended up staying at home, dancing to loud hindi music, drank, chatted and saw fireworks from our friends's 17th floor downtown apartment. Ending the year in the company of family and friends was the best kick